More than 100 black-owned restaurants in Atlanta could see more visitors and new faces. The eighth annual Atlanta Black Restaurant Week runs through August 18.
At Nouveau Bar & Grill in College Park, steam rises from a plate of grits topped with peppers and grilled shrimp in a golden Cajun cream sauce.
Monica Thorpe, known on Instagram as “The Weekend Nomad,” says she’s usually picky about her hominy. “I only eat my mom’s hominy,” Thorpe says.
But she liked these. Thorpe is a food blogger. She says she grew up on the Southside and knows very few black-owned restaurants.
The restaurant chain Piccadilly, S&S Cafeterias and Mrs. Winners were the only black spots she knew.
“After church you go to Piccadilly or S&S. Everyone was there, and then you go home, get your sweet tea from Mrs Winners and call it a day,” says Thorpe.
The two-week celebration of the cuisine of the African diaspora features events aimed at attracting hungry customers to minority-owned grocery stores.
Although Atlanta’s black population has declined over the years, the city still has the highest percentage of black businesses in the country.
Founder and Morehouse College graduate Warren Luckett said the number of participating companies is increasing.
“Atlanta has been the melting pot of black culture for 50 years,” said Luckett. The goal of his Feed the Soul Foundation is to provide affordable marketing to restaurants like the ones that kept him fed while he was in college.
“Some of the most successful black hotel groups are also located here in Atlanta. And so Atlanta continues to lead the way and it’s just been an honor to be able to showcase what they have to offer for eight years,” said Luckett.
Warren Luckett, a graduate of Morehouse College, is the founder of Black Restaurant Week. (Marlon Hyde/WABE)
Julian Boyd, also a graduate of Morehouse University, runs the family-owned D’bo’s Daiquiris, Wings and Seafood business based in Memphis. The Decatur location is participating for the first time this year.
“I think important programs like Black Restaurant Week and even the nonprofit sector Feed the Soul have really shown us the importance of supporting minority-owned businesses, especially restaurants in the Black space,” Boyd said.
Ebony Austin owns Nouveau Bar & Grill in College Park.
“I grew up in Chicago and we always went to restaurant weeks, but black restaurants were never part of those weeks,” Austin said. “Now we have the opportunity, we have the platform and we have the advertising that goes with it.”
“We’re here in College Park, near the busiest airport in the world. And College Park was so great for us when we opened our first restaurant,” said Jovan Dais, owner of Aye Tea Elle, a restaurant in South Atlanta.
“I respect all black restaurant owners, all restaurant owners in general. But it’s tough, you know, it’s a tough business. You have to be in it because you love it,” Dais said.
A list of participating restaurants can be found on the Black Restaurant Week website.
